A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: When do you think Jesus experienced the most pain? Was it when they put the crown of thorns on his head? I don't think so. Was it when they used the Roman whip on his back? As horrible as that was, I don't think that was it. Was it when they pounded the spike through his hands and his feet? Again, no. As horrible and horrific as all of that was, I don't think that was his most painful moment. I'll tell you what I think his most painful moment was in just a moment.

Guest (Male): For the past month, we've been studying the rich writings of the Gospel of Mark. Mark weaves together a vivid narrative of the life of Jesus, and certainly the most vivid is his description of the end of Jesus' life and ministry. These events were choreographed by the Father from the beginning of time, but the events were surprising to a first-century citizen seeing it in real time. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie presents his message, "What the Death of Jesus Means to You."

Greg Laurie: Grab your Bible and turn to Mark chapter 15. Let me start with a question: When do you think Jesus experienced the most pain? Do you think it's when they put the crown of thorns on his head? Do you think it's when he was beaten with a Roman whip, most likely a Roman cat-of-nine-tails? Do you think it's when they drove those nails through his hands and his feet?

As horrible and horrific as all of that was, I don't think that was his most painful moment. I'll tell you what I think his most painful moment was, and I'm also going to talk about the most painful moment in my own life at the end of the message. Mark 15 says in verse 22, "They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (that is, the Place of the Skull). They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. And the soldiers crucified him."

It was 9:00 in the morning when they crucified him, and a sign announced the charge against him: "The King of the Jews." And the revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Look back at the cross for a moment. Here's Christ hanging on the cross. The crown of thorns is on his head. His back is torn open by the Roman whip.

Understand this: death by crucifixion was not dying by having the nails put through your hands and feet, as horrible as that was. In effect, death by crucifixion was death by suffocation. The Carthaginians invented crucifixion. Let's just say the Romans perfected it in a horrific way. It was designed to humiliate a prisoner; prisoners would often be nailed to the cross naked.

It was designed as a warning to anyone that would rise up against Rome. These were serious criminals that were hung there on the crosses. And the reason you died was because you could not breathe. So you see that little step at the foot of the cross? The crucified person would have to push themselves up to get a gulp of air into their lungs. Obviously, that would cause great pain on your hands, which were nailed to the cross, and the nail pounded through the feet as well.

And so there is Jesus hanging. It is hard to breathe. Now, you want to talk about saying things from the cross? Extremely difficult, yet Christ gave seven significant statements from the cross. We have to kind of piece them together from all the Gospels to get them in their proper order. So as Jesus is hanging on the cross between two thieves or two other criminals, his first words were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

One of the criminals crucified next to him turns to him and says, "Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And Jesus gives his second statement from the cross when he says to this man, "Truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Standing at the foot of the cross, there stands Mary, the mother of Jesus. Imagine her anguish to look up there and see her beloved son. She once guided those little tiny hands that are now nailed to a cross.

Isaiah tells us he was so bloodied and beaten and traumatized, you could not even tell he was a man. And Jesus looks down from the cross and he says his third statement from the cross, which is, "Woman, behold your son." John the apostle was standing nearby, and then he says to John, "Son, behold your mother," in effect saying to John, "Take care of my mother for me."

Then, presumably, he takes on the sin of the world and gives the fourth statement from Calvary, which is, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Statement number five is, "I thirst." Statement number six, "It is finished." And the final statement, statement number seven, he says to the Father, "Into your hands, I commit my spirit."

Let's contemplate for a moment that riveting first statement of Jesus when he says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." That is in Luke 23:34. Jesus is basically saying, "Father, forgive them. They need forgiveness so desperately. They've committed a sin that is wicked beyond all comprehension. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they've done."

By the way, it is implied in the original language he said that more than once. So it was not just one statement, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," but rather, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they've done. Father, forgive them." He was saying it over and over again. Initially, we know that both thieves joined in the chorus of mockery with the people standing at the foot of the cross.

They were saying, "If he is the Christ, if he is the Son of God, let him come down from that cross. He should save himself." So at the beginning, Christ is crucified, everyone's mocking him, including the criminals on each side. Jesus gives statement number one from Calvary: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And one of those thieves comes to his senses and he believes, and he rebukes the other guy.

In fact, he actually says to the other guy, "Don't you fear God, knowing we're under the same condemnation?" What woke this man up? Why did he believe so quickly? To become a Christian, it doesn't take years, it doesn't take months, it doesn't even take hours. It can happen just like that. It can happen for you at this moment while you're listening to me speak, where you suddenly realize all of this is true.

Jesus is the Son of God. I can come into a relationship with him. I can know God in a personal way. That is what happened to that guy. What won him over? What softened his hardened heart? It's when he saw Jesus forgive the men who had done this horrific thing to him. We don't know that those thieves had been scourged. We don't believe those thieves had crowns of thorns on their heads, but Jesus had all that in addition to the horrors of the crucifixion.

That man believed because he saw this forgiveness in action. Amazing. And then he says to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom," and Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." This is what we call a deathbed conversion. Am I talking to someone on a deathbed right now? Am I talking to someone whose life is coming to an end?

Let me say to you, no matter how you've lived, no matter what sins you've committed, God could and will forgive you if you will call out to him. I've told you before my mother was married and divorced seven times. So I had a full-time ministry sharing the gospel with my mom's former husbands, and I tried to reach as many of them as I could. The one she was married to when her life finally came to an end was a man who was not open to God throughout his life.

He actually kind of made fun of me and what I believed. But then he got very ill. My mother died and then some time passed and someone called me up and told me that he was very sick and at death's door. I was on my way to a speaking engagement on the other side of the country. I had a flight to catch. And I said, "I'll go visit him tomorrow when I get back." And they said, "Well, do whatever you want to do, but he's really ill. I don't think he'll make it through the night."

I'm driving to the airport and I am telling you the Lord spoke to me and said, "Go to him right now." So I did a U-turn, drove over to his house, walked in, and there he was in a hospital bed in his den, clearly not long for this world. And I shared with him the gospel. I told him Jesus died on the cross for him and rose again from the dead and he could believe in Jesus. I said, "Would you like to do this right now?" and he said, "Yes," and we prayed.

It was a deathbed conversion. And then I bid him God bless and said I would see him when I got back and I caught my flight. And when I landed, I got a text on my phone that said he just died. Wow. Got in under the wire. Got in under the wire. And I'll tell you what, you can call on the Lord no matter what you've done and he will forgive you. Jesus forgave this hardened criminal. "Today you will be with me in paradise."

Now an ominous moment takes place. This has been described as the crucifixion in the crucifixion. It is 9:00 in the morning. Suddenly, the sun goes dark. It is like an eclipse. Some extra-biblical sources suggest there was a universal darkness. This darkness falls on the land. And that darkness is pierced by the voice of Jesus giving his fourth statement from the cross in Mark 15:33.

As darkness fell across the whole land until 3:00, at 3:00, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" No fiction writer would ever have his hero make a statement like this. Some people say the Bible is fiction, it is all made up. No, this is a true story, and this is showing what Christ was experiencing.

Now, we know at some moment, Jesus bore the sin of the world. The Bible clearly tells us this. When it happened, we can't be exactly sure, but it would seem to me this is the moment when all of the sin of humanity—past, present, and future—is poured upon Christ. Thus he says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had been forsaken by his disciples; by and large, they had fled.

But he always had the Father. The Father was always there with him. Jesus said in John 8:29, "The one who sent me is with me, and the Father has not left me alone." Then in John 16:32, Jesus says, "Indeed the hour is coming, and now has come, and you will be scattered each to his own, and you will leave me alone, but I'm not alone because the Father is with me."

But now at the cross, as the sin of the world is poured upon Jesus, God the Father turns his face away from the Son. Why? Because God in his holiness cannot look at sin. The scripture says of God, "He is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on iniquity." So in effect, the Father turns his face away as he pours his wrath on his Son.

The wrath and anger of God that should have been poured on you and should have been poured on me was poured instead on Jesus. And this was his most painful moment. I raised the question earlier: What was the most painful moment? Was it when they put the crown of thorns on his head? I don't think so. Was it when they used the Roman whip on his back? As horrible as that was, I don't think that was it.

Was it when they pounded the spike through his hands and his feet? Again, no. It was when all the sin of the world was placed upon him. Why? Because Jesus had never sinned—ever. Not even one thought out of harmony with the Father. Jesus said, "I always do the things that please him." Who could say that but Jesus? And it was true. But here is Jesus now separated in effect from the Father.

Listen to this: Jesus was forsaken so I don't have to be. Let me say that again: Jesus was forsaken so I don't have to be. Jesus was forsaken of God so I could be forgiven. Jesus entered the darkness that I might walk in the light. Jesus was forsaken of God for a time that I might enjoy his presence forever. Jesus then gives his fifth statement from Calvary: "I thirst. I thirst."

This wasn't any normal thirst. He was just dying up there, dehydrated. And he cries out, "I thirst," bringing us—and by the way, that shows the humanity of Christ. Yes, he was God walking among us, but he was also a man. He felt that pain when they struck him in the face. He felt that pain of the crown of thorns. He felt that pain as they tore his back open and when they nailed him to the cross.

He felt the pain of separation from the Father. Now, statement number six: "It is finished." Jesus was 33 when he died. At the age of 33, most people are saying, "It is beginning." But Jesus was saying, "It is finished." But he did not say, "I am finished." This is not the shout of a victim; this is a shout of a victor overcoming his enemies.

In the Greek, it is one word. "It is finished" is one word in the Greek: tetelestai. Tetelestai. It was a word that was commonly used in the language of that day in many situations. If you built a table and it was finally completed, you would say, "Tetelestai. It's done." Or even after a great meal was prepared, you would say, "Tetelestai. The meal is complete."

So he says, "Tetelestai." They knew what that word meant. It is a word that meant it's finished. It stands finished, and it will always be finished. And by the way, he cried that with a loud voice. He didn't just say, "Tetelestai." He said, "Tetelestai!" It is finished, it is completed, it is done. The war is over. A new covenant now has been established with God and man.

I think what I call the battle cry of the cross reverberated through the hallways of heaven as well as the hallways of hell. The mission had been accomplished. The job had been completed. The death of Jesus satisfied the righteous demands of the Father. Now the final statement of Christ from the cross. He says to the Father, "Into your hands, I commit my spirit."

The Roman soldier was shocked to see that he had died. Normally they would take the mallet, the hammer, and smash the legs so the crucified person would collapse and could no longer breathe, and that is how they would kill him. But Jesus did not need that done. The Bible says they haven't broken a bone in his body; that is prophesied of Christ.

He gave his life up. See, no one took the life of Jesus. He gave his life. He laid his life down. Jesus said, "Greater love has no man than this, and he laid down his life for his friends." Notice three times on the cross Jesus addressed the Father. His first words: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." His fourth word: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

His last words: "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit." Jesus addressed the Father at the beginning, in the middle, and the end. And we should do the same in life, shouldn't we? Address God in the beginning when you're a young man or a young woman; commit your life to the Lord. Do it in the middle of your life. And obviously, you want to do it at the end of your life.

So the question is raised earlier: Why did Jesus die for us on the cross? What does the death of Jesus mean to you? Answer: It means everything. He did this for you because he loves you and he wants you to come into a relationship with the Father. In the beginning of the message, I said I was going to tell you what I believe God's most painful moment was, and I also mentioned I wanted to tell you what my most painful moment was.

If you know me, you already know what I will say. But if you don't, the most painful moment of my life happened in 2008 when my son Christopher died in a tragic automobile accident at the age of 33. It was the darkest moment of my life. And I called out to God. God knows what it's like to lose a son, doesn't he?

But I don't think it's really accurate to say I've lost my son, because I know where he is. I know he is in heaven. I know that I will see him again. And why will I see him again? Because of what Jesus did for me on the cross and Jesus did for me rising again from the dead. This is the hope that I have. Some might think the cross was an aberration, it was a mistake, it was a tragic turn of events, but actually it was all part of the plan of God.

As I already said, God was the master of ceremonies at the cross. Isaiah 53:10 says, "It was the will of the Lord to crush him and to put him to grief." And Romans 8:32, God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. And then Isaiah 53 says it pleased the Father to bruise him. How could it possibly please the Father to bruise his Son? How could it possibly be something that had any merit or good in it?

Here's the simple answer: because of what it accomplished. God the Father was not pleased by the suffering of his Son and the anguish of his Son; he was pleased that his Son was able to purchase eternal life for all of humanity. This is the most evil act ever perpetrated by sinful hearts: the sinless Son of God tortured, slaughtered, and heartlessly murdered in cold blood.

Yet from this horrible event came the greatest good of all time: the salvation of countless souls, your salvation and mine. Jesus died for you. Jesus died for me. And because of his death, we can live. Jesus was born to die that we might live. What an amazing event it was. And now this same Jesus who hung on that cross and died for your sins rose from the dead, and now he stands at the door of your life and he knocks.

Let's pray. Father, I pray for everybody watching this right now. If they don't have a relationship with you, if they don't know you in a personal way, let this be the moment that they believe. We commit them to you now. Bring them to yourself, we pray. In Jesus' name we ask this, amen.

Guest (Male): An important prayer from Pastor Greg Laurie. And as you've listened to a new beginning today, maybe you feel you need to make a change in your relationship with the Lord. Pastor Greg will help you do that in just a moment, so stay with us. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions each day via email? If not, let's take care of that right now.

You can sign up today free of charge at harvest.org. And you will receive a daily inspirational thought from God's word each day in your inbox. Again, go to harvest.org. And then, Pastor Greg, just before we go, would you mind praying with the person listening who wants to make a change today in their relationship with the Lord?

Greg Laurie: I would be happy to today. If you know, as you've been listening to this today, maybe you've heard another voice. By that I mean, yeah, you heard me say a few things, but you heard God's voice speak to you deep in the recesses of your heart. And it suddenly dawned on you: this is what I need, or to state it more accurately, this is who I need. I need Jesus, and I want Jesus.

Maybe you don't know how to make that connection. Let me help you. God is only a prayer away. He stands at the door of your heart and he knocks. And Jesus says if you will hear his voice and open the door, he will come in. Let me help you open the door, so to speak, of your heart as you invite Jesus to be your Savior and Lord. So here's what I would like you to do.

I would like you to stop what you're doing and I want you to pray a prayer after me. I will lead you in this prayer, and as you pray it, God will hear you. Pray this after me right now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. And I am sorry for my sin, and I need your forgiveness right now. Would you come into my heart and my life as Savior, as God, as friend?

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I know that was a relatively short prayer. Maybe you felt something as you prayed it; maybe you felt nothing. That doesn't really matter because God's word says, "These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

It doesn't say so you may think you have it or you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood. No, that you can know it. And I want you to know, if you prayed that prayer in minute, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come into your life. So congratulations. You're now a Christian. Now continue to follow the Lord.

Guest (Male): And to help you as you follow the Lord, we'd like to send you Pastor Greg's New Believer's Bible. It is in an easy-to-understand translation with hundreds of helps specifically for those who are new to the faith. It will answer many of the questions you might have and get you started in your new relationship with the Lord. So get in touch and ask for the New Believer's Bible.

We will send it to you free of charge. Just call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's our 24-hour phone number, 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click "Know God." And then let us say a word of thanks to those who support us financially, those who make it possible for us to bring you these studies each day. We are definitely a listener-supported ministry.

It's the generosity of listeners that helps us be here with these programs. So if you've partnered with us, thank you. And if you have yet to partner with us, well, I hope you'll get in touch today and let us know that you're standing with us. Even a small investment would help. It's actually an investment in changing lives. Thank you for partnering with us.

You can donate securely online at harvest.org or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call us at 1-800-821-3300. Again, that's 1-800-821-3300. Next time on a new beginning, the resurrection of Jesus assures me I am accepted by God. Isn't that great to know? Pastor Greg has important insights on the Lord's resurrection and how it impacts our lives today. Join us here on a new beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.